We all have personal computers for a reason. We want our experiences at our computer to be personal and relevant.  However, when we go to both Google and/or another search engine and type in the same search query, our results will be extremely similar, if not identical. 

For example, I just typed in “gym membership” in Google (I live in New York) and had my sister (who lives in Maryland) type in the same thing. She received results for New York gyms among others.  Clearly a gym membership in another state is irrelevant to her.  Google has taken one huge step towards changing this.  Google Personal Search has launched in their ever-present quest for the “perfect search.”

Essentially, Google (and eventually what the other internet companies) is trying to make the internet experience more personal for everyone.  Currently ads show up based on an algorithm. In the future they may show up based on personal interest and search history.

This could potentially cause issues for the search marketer.  Today, an ad that shows up on Google in spot number 1 may not show up in this spot in the future. This same ad may show up on page 1 spot number 3 for one person while showing up on page 1 spot number 10 for another.  This will all be based on location, search history and other personal information Google deems relevant.  Google wants your web experience to be as personal and perfect as it can be. If you are sitting in your apartment in Chelsea (in NYC) and type in “gym membership”, you should get results for gyms in your area as, that is what is relevant to you.  The rules of ranking will change in the future.  Instead of being solely based on bids, Google is going to display ads based on relevance to you and your search as well.  Bids will probably still play a significant part, but it will no longer be the only variable.  Results will be displayed in different orders based on personal data. Each search will return different results (or smiliar results in a different order).

What does this mean for people in the SEM business?? 

I believe this means that we will have to work even harder to pinpoint our target audience. We are going to need to know exactly who we are trying to reach, instead of who we think we want to reach.  That’s not to say, if I think my target audience is the 25-35 affluent female, I can’t still use that target.  It means that I am going to have to try and figure out what that 25-35 affluent female is interested in as well.  Does she garden, decorate, dance or maybe drink? Perhaps she is an avid traveler.  Where else would I find this 25-35 affluent female?  What other websites does she visit, what terms has she searched on? Finding the answers to these questions for all of our campaigns will help us to reach our target audience more effectively.

The good news however is you only have to concern yourself with this if you are trying to reach users that are signed into Google through either Gmail, Google desktop (or any other Google tool that requires you to log in).  Most people will still be going to Google’s homepage for quite a while and the results will remain fairly unscathed for some time. 

The thing that will change the most for us (as SEM practitioners) is how we optimize our campaigns.  We can optimize based on geographical location and interests as opposed to how many clicks a keyword gets and what it costs.  Our decision will come down to whether or not we want to continue to optimize to be one of the top listings for non-personalized searches or if we want to optimize to reach certain individuals who are searching with Google’s personal search on. 

Tags: rebecca matt, morpheus media, google, SEM, personalized search, search, gmail, google desktop